Tag Archives: Catholic

The Woman of the Weeping Wilderness

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Blessed [belated] Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows! In honor of our Blessed Mother’s sorrowful sacrifice (and slam-dunk victory), I wanted to time the release of this novel for September 15th (slight delay due to logistics). May I present – The Woman of the Weeping Wilderness: The Legend of Our Lady of La Vang (available on Amazon.com here, or contact me for signed copies [while supplies last] at evanpham@holysmack.com).

I started this project about last year, Fall of 2024, after realizing that many of my Vietnamese-American peers, and Vietnamese people in general, don’t know the story of Our Lady’s 1798 apparition in our motherland, during the beginning of anti-Catholic persecution by the Vietnamese imperial government. After some reflection and research, I realized that there wasn’t even much of a surviving story of her apparition. Many remaining accounts are brief, have no narrative force, sparse with details, and are disjointed. Without a concrete context, developed characters, and plotline, it became a negligible anecdote in Vietnamese Catholicism, and that frustrated me.

So, I took the matter into my own hands, pulling the few facts, details, and cultural elements together, dramatizing and imagining plausible scenarios and miracles based on my own experiences with Our Lady and our Faith.

I began writing on May 11, 2025, and was stunned when I hit the final keystroke on June 21, only 41 days later. It was the fastest large-work I had ever written. I spent the rest of summer juggling between revising and pilgrimages, leisurely travel, another writing project, graduation parties, and outdoor adventures. By the time September neared, I knew the Legend was ready for more eyes (thank you all who read the novelette in advance and shared the needed feedback!).

Now, before more wasted words, may I present my best attempt to immortalize and perpetuate Our Lady of La Vang: The Woman of the Weeping Wilderness. By God’s grace, may my work glorify her Son and her love for Him and us.

And a loose translation (below) and recording of the Marian hymn featured in Chapter 21 (Mẹ Là Bóng Mát):

ĐK. Bóng mát (í i) che đầu, Mẹ là như bóng mát (í i) che đầu, Dưới nắng những ban trưa, trong mưa bao đêm sầu Mẹ vẫn che đầu. Khốn khó dắt con đi, gian nguy đưa con về Mẹ mãi chở che.
Chorus: Mother is like a shade comforting me. Under the [fiery] noon sun and the rain of sad nights, Mother comforts me under her mantle. Through trials, she leads me, through dangers, she brings me home, always protecting me.

1. Mẹ là như bóng mát, như làn hương thơm ngát như dòng suối êm đềm. Cho suốt cả đời conc luôn sống vui bình an sống vui bình an.
Verse 1: Mother is my shade, an aroma, a tranquil stream. For the rest of my life, I will live in joy and peace.

2. Mẹ là cây xanh thắm, che người đi trong nắng, mau về tới quê nhà. Cây lá tỏa ngàn hương con sống trong tình thương Sống trong tình thương.
Verse 2: Mother is a luscious tree, shading us from the hot sun as we rush home. The tree’s leaves fill all with a thousand fragrances, as I live in love, I live in love.

—And finally, an informal Vietnamese music playlist that helped me get into the writing zone, and reacquainted me with one of my languages. This also would be a great way to familiarize someone with how the Việt language properly sounds:

BLM and Beelzebub

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Years of discussing tough topics with others has taught me to try and wait before publicly jumping to conclusions. Back in the summer of 2020, many people immediately leapt to fund and support the organization Black Lives Matter (BLM). Without adequately knowing BLM’s origins, foundations, agenda, and founders, many leapt to its defense.

With enough information now, I can say today that BLM belongs with Beelzebub, and definitely does not deserve any support. Instead, BLM needs major prayers, fasting, and an exorcism. Let me explain:

  1. Our Lord says some demons can only be exorcised by prayer and fasting. Without a doubt, racism is morally evil, and demons sustain evil things, keeping them from resolving and dissolving. Because of this reality, Christians especially must pray and fast this evil away. Without prayer and fasting (give up food and fun), no amount of fundraising, protesting, rioting–whatever you call it–will ever be enough against a diabolic depravity. Jesus says it Himself in Mt 17:21.
  2. As for exorcism, BLM’s leaders are flirting with the occult, and that is one of the quickest ways demons can snare a soul. Satan promises to help like a poacher promises an easy snack atop a bear trap. In the end, it’s all a hustle. If you cannot believe this claim, about BLM in bed with Beelzebub, then read and reread this article by Dan Burke (someone who knows about spiritual warfare against the satanic): The Occult Spirituality of Black Lives Matter, and don’t skip the video embedded there (I’m posting it here, too, so you can’t miss it).
  3. Finally, any Catholic of goodwill should heed Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers’ warning about BLM. The fact that black lives always matter does not mean that BLM (the organization) treats black lives like they actually mattered. In fact, Burke-Sivers critiques that BLM is doing nothing to help stop the genocide of black babies, the destruction of black families, black businesses, and school-choice for black students. His full critique is posted here for your convenience (so you can’t miss it either):
  4. Lastly, because of all the pushback against BLM’s beliefs, the organization has removed their controversial page. The original page can be found archived here (because nothing on the internet really disappears). Moreover, the removal of this content seems to mean a few things: a) that BLM is unwilling to stand up for their original beliefs, and so anyone who supports their original beliefs should disavow them, or b) that BLM is unwilling to show their original beliefs and is trying to deceive those wary of their original beliefs into supporting them. I do not think BLM has learned the error of their ways, because if they did, they would publicly rebuke their past beliefs and explain why they were wrong.

So now that you have enough information, too, you can also say today that BLM belongs with Beelzebub.

O Filii et Filiae Feels

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EmptyTomb2All Christian Feasts are strange–otherworldly. Perhaps no other Christian Feast is as odd as the Resurrection: we celebrate the murder of an innocent man for our sins, then Him rising from the dead and teleporting from His grave… with a super-upgraded body (it’s my theory that this strangeness of the Paschal Feast has largely prevented its commercialization by businesses, Hollywood, and government. Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, St. Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, and more, have their secularized forms… but Easter? Not so much except for the treats and stuffed animals. It just ain’t a money maker.)

Combine all that with this strangest of times in world history (the pandemic quarantine), and we’ll all need a shot of what I think is the greatest of Easter hymns: O Filii et Filiae (pronounced: oh-fee-lee-ee-et-fee-lee-aye).

  1. King’s College’s smashing rendition:
  2. An epic and meditative version by Patrick Lenk:
  3. The hymn in its natural habitat (for Holy Mass)!
  4. Beautiful contemporary rendition:

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Finally, here are the lyrics; they speak (sing?) for themselves:

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
O filii et filiae,

Rex caelestis, Rex gloriae

morte surrexit hodie.

R. Alleluia

 Ye sons and daughters of the Lord,

the King of glory, King adored,

this day Himself from death restored.

R. Alleluia
Ex mane prima Sabbati

ad ostium monumenti

accesserunt discipuli.

R. Alleluia

 All in the early morning gray

went holy women on their way,

to see the tomb where Jesus lay.

R. Alleluia
Et Maria Magdalene,

et Iacobi, et Salome

Venerunt corpus ungere

R. Alleluia

 Of spices pure a precious store

in their pure hands these women bore,

to anoint the sacred Body o’er.

R. Alleluia
In albis sedens angelus

praedixit mulieribus:

In Galilaea est Dominus.

R. Alleluia

 The straight’way one in white they see,

who saith, “seek the Lord: but He

is risen and gone to Galilee.”

R. Alleluia
Et Ioannes apostolus

cucurrit Petro citius,

monumento venit prius.

R. Alleluia

 This they told Peter, told John;

who forthwith to the tomb are gone,

but Peter is outrun by John.

R. Alleluia
Discipulis astantibus,

in medio stetit Christus,

dicens: Pax vobis omnibus.

R. Alleluia

 That self-same night, while out of fear

the doors where shut, their Lord most dear

to His Apostles did appear.

R. Alleluia
Ut intellexit Didymus

quia surrexerat Iesus,

remansit fere dubius.

R. Alleluia

 But Thomas, when of this he heard,

was doubtful of his brethren’s word;

wherefore again there comes the Lord.

R. Alleluia
Vide Thoma, vide latus,

vide pedes, vide manus,

noli esse incredulus.

R. Alleluia

 “Thomas, behold my side,” saith He;

“My hands, My feet, My body see,

and doubt not, but believe in Me.”

R. Alleluia
Quando Thomas vidit Christum,

pedes, manus, latus suum,

dixit: Tu es Deus meus.

R. Alleluia

 When Thomas saw that wounded side,

the truth no longer he denied;

“Thou art my Lord and God!” he cried.

R. Alleluia
Beati qui non viderunt

et firmiter crediderunt;

vitam aeternam habebunt.

R. Alleluia

 Oh, blest are they who have not seen

their Lord and yet believe in Him!

eternal life awaitheth them.

R. Alleluia
In hoc festo sanctissimo

sit laus et iubilatio:

benedicamus Domino.

R. Alleluia

 Now let us praise the Lord most high,

and strive His name to magnify

on this great day, through earth and sky:

R. Alleluia
Ex quibus nos humillimas

devotas atque debitas

Deo dicamus gratias.

R. Alleluia

 Whose mercy ever runneth o’er;

Whom men and Angel hosts adore;

to Him be glory evermore.

R. Alleluia

 

Liturgy and Lethargy

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Lethargy is the wrong word: it means weakness and lack of enthusiasm.
Lethargy is the right word: it means weakness and lack of enthusiasm.

Lethargy perfectly represents what I want to describe.

Many Masses in my life always left me confused, especially as I grew in love for the Lord and His Church. If Holy Mass is the most important prayer of Christians, if the Eucharist is truly Christ’s Body and Blood: true Food and true Drink, if this is true, then why have so many Masses been lame? Lethargy.

Ever since learning that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is actually Jesus nailed on the Cross because of your sins, my sins, our sins—that Jesus teleports us to the original moment of His sacrifice—I cannot ignore the jarring clash between crucifixion and birthday-bash trying to show through at the same time. The energy and enthusiasm put into a party-style-Mass means “lethargy” is the wrong word. So much effort wasted on the wrong details.

But don’t take my word for it. Have a look yourself:

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Step One: watch this excerpt of Jesus rescuing you and me from Satan and our sins, watch how He is lifted up for us to see what He does for us:

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Step Two: watch how this Mass (from 2008) totally matches the theme of Christ’s crucifixion:

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Step Three: this 2018 Mass (with German cardinals and bishops) also gets the point across:

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And the point is (in case you didn’t catch my sarcasm): how did we get to this mess, instead of Mass? How do we have such a mess in theme? How did such liturgical abuse become a thing?

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Mass never was about fun, entertainment, relevance, and needing to be cool or interesting. Sacrifice is never about those things.

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Instead, sacrifice is a labor of love. Mass used to be (and can still be) solemn, reverent, powerful, deep, and intense:

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Because Jesus is not partying it up on His Cross—He is dying because of my selfish and terrible choices to go to Hell. And I should not act nor expect this moment to be a birthday bash (or a tango dance-off).

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And I’m not about to let this end with that tango video *shudder*. Instead, here’s an uplifting and helpful tip how we can start to reclaim our Lord’s Mass, with song and singing:

UPDATE 4/18/2020:

This CCP-virus (Covid-19) survivor is former EWTN President, Catholic-convert, and current spiritual director: Dan Burke. After beating the disease from the point of death, he has choice words about liturgical abuse and enemies of reverence. Hear what he has to say about why/how Jesus is desecrated today in our Church. His witness cuts me to the heart.

Chinese Church Chaos

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Blessings this Feast of Candlemas,

To commemorate this feast, let me hold out a candle and shed light on another crime that has been wounding our Mother Church. As our Lord had warned: there is nothing done in secret that will not be revealed.

CHNUnderground1WARNING: Before reading this article, please first read this post on Wolves in Wool for context and a good footing in the faith.

The truth will set you free, and truth is: arguably one of the most terrible ongoing failures of Pope Francis has been his dealings with Communist China. Yet, Pope Francis is in the unique and powerful position to solve this disaster, if he would only choose to. It has become apparent he lacks the will, and his mishandling here has harmed many in the Church. Perhaps my family background (Catholic-Chinese-Vietnamese) makes this hit closest to home, and perhaps I know not all the facts, but here are indeed troubling implications that must be known so that we can fast and pray all the more for our Pope:

      1. Pope Benedict XVI attempted to restrict the predatory McCarrick in 2008. McCarrick ignored the sanctions. If you need to know why McCarrick deserved to be restricted (and tried and imprisoned), see commentary here and one of his victims’ testimony here.
      2. After Francis’ 2013 election, McCarrick continued his agenda, despite the restrictions. In fact, during the Francis papacy, “McCarrick’s travels on behalf of the Church increased” even. That’s right: the corrupt cardinal got a promotion.
      3. One of McCarrick’s deeds was his frequent travels to China and meetings with Communist authorities and party-approved clergyman (fakeful bishups). His work went so far as to state in 2016 that Pope Francis and the Chinese dictator have “similarities that could be a special gift for the world.“
      4. In 2018, Archbishop Vigano’s testimony against McCarrick and Francis fueled the ex-cardinal’s laicization and apparent quiet retirement (though he should have been–I repeat–tried and imprisoned).
      5. Then from 2018-2019, Cardinal Joseph Zen of embattled Hong Kong came forward with the nightmarish results of the China Deal, presumably designed by McCarrick, Parolin, and Francis (“presumably” since the details of the deal remain secret to all except its architects and the Communists).
      6. Moreover, it is concerning that the entire China Deal was drafted and signed without any input from legitimate Chinese Catholic bishops and cardinals (where’s subsidiarity in that?). That McCarrick was involved should have rendered the deal suspect and worthy of a second look, but instead the Pope has moved forward with it, despite protests from his persecuted Chinese cardinal and his persecuted Chinese sheep under an emboldened Communist president (people are dying). Though “provisional” in status, the deal’s done nothing good for the Church in China, and yet it remains, and remains a useful tool to the Communists who continue using it to draw out confused Catholics from the underground Church.
      7. The China Deal has zero merit, and it is increasingly obvious. Because it is now even obvious to a simpleton like me, it is only a matter of time until other communist countries (i.e., Vietnam, North Korea) catch on that they too can get away with culling the Church’s children without the shepherd of Rome even lifting his staff:
      8. And if one needs a reminder that Communist China is evil (despite the claim of this Vatican official saying China is the “best implementing the social doctrine of the Church“), please view this and see how China persecutes political and religious dissent (Christian, Muslim, and otherwise):
      9. Finally, see here for a decent and recent summary of all the terrors involved and lives at stake.
      10. I love the pope and pray for him everyday, but because of what I now know, I sadly cannot trust him. May Mother Mary severely discipline (Hebrews 12:6, Apocalypse 3:19) all disciples who have become lazy servants, “beating the menservants and the maidservants, eating and drinking and getting drunk” because of our Master’s delay (Luke 12:41-48). With our Blessed Mother’s help, may we all become good and faithful servants, doing whatever He tells us.CHNUnderground7

UPDATE 2/14/2020: Cardinal Zen gives this thorough interview with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo:

UPDATE 3/10/2020: Sociologist Steven Mosher, who has studied and monitored Communist China for decades, has this to share:

UPDATE 11/22/2020: The Vatican has since renewed its accord with Communist China, and the CCP has used this leniency to rewrite the Bible. Also, this from Cardinal Zen:

UPDATE 12/08/2020 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception: Hong Kong’s most well-known lay Catholic has been imprisoned. Jimmy Lai is founder of Apple Daily, the city’s most critical newspaper against the Communist Party. He wonders why the Pope has remained silent during Beijing’s persecution against China’s Christians and other citizens. More details here from the Wall Street Journal (surprisingly), and his full final interview here before his imprisonment:

Netflix is Anti-Abortion

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iammother

So Netflix was threatening to boycott the State of Georgia for its pro-life laws. Netflix is worried that Georgia will abort abortion. Because of this boycott threat, many pro-lifers are boycotting Netflix.

But Netflix is a hypocrite. It’s not really serious about abortion rights. Because if it were, it wouldn’t be streaming pro-life movies like I Am Mother. That’s right, Netflix actually streams a very pro-life, very anti-abortion movie. If Netflix doesn’t realize its contradictory stance, then it’s either simply hypocritical, or incredibly ignorant of its own content, or it’s secretly anti-abortion. I’m not sure what they are, but here are the pro-life signs from their recent critically acclaimed hit film itself:

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—SPOILER ALERT—

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  1. The film presents a feminine-voiced robot as a mechanical mother tasked with raising a baby girl. In fact, every mother figure in this film is female/feminine. In our LGBTQRSTUV+ conscious culture, why is the mother presented as womanly and feminine? Why do advanced, super artificial-intelligence robots of the future use old-fashioned traditional family roles in its attempt to raise the perfect human? Hint: because that’s how humans are meant to be best nurtured.
  2. There’s no mistake that motherhood is the theme of the film (the title?). But notice the plot twist: Mother-Bot has been long terminating human girls when they failed to qualify for continued existence. Mother-Bot administers tests on her daughters, and only raises the current protagonist because she has been passing. When we find that other girls had been gestated, born, raised, tested, failed, and then incinerated, we sense the film wants us to feel horrified. The fact that we don’t know how many girls have been burned to bones alludes even more to the fact that we may perhaps never know how many girls have been aborted in our world (in China alone, its missing an estimated 30-50 million girls. Talk about an actual war-on-women).
  3. But back to the film: so what if Mother-Bot terminated some girls during gestation? So what if Mother-Bot discovered a mutation, or a disease, or some other condition the unborn baby had, and then deemed her unqualified for the perfect life (whatever perfect even means)? What difference is there between terminating the girl then or terminating later? The motive is the same: the girl is not good enough.
  4. Here we see a commentary on the rampant objectification of girls and women in our culture. If she isn’t beautiful enough, hot enough, smart enough, small enough, skinny enough, et cetera enough, then she’s not worth it. If she doesn’t make me happy enough, proud enough, successful enough, then she’s something I must destroy. I decide if her life is worth the work I need to put in. –Mother-Boti-am-mother-pictures-images-gallery-clean
  5. But why does the film try to make us sense this mentality is horrific? If abortion is a woman’s right (as Netflix claims), then why is Mother-Bot not just an everyday hero doing what every mother should be free to do? Sure, you can say it’s because the baby isn’t actually inside Mother-Bot, but Mother-Bot even says in the film that she is more than just one robot, she is all of them, and the entire gestation/nursery facility, by extension. She runs everything, so actually Daughter is very much inside Mother-Bot, using her resources, time, energy, and space. And that relates very much to the argument for abortion-after-birth that is getting popular among many politicians of a certain political party: John Rogers (AL), Governor Northam (VA), Del. Tran (VA). After all, born babies keep using their mother’s resources, time, energy, and space… for years and decades.
  6. So point made: real motherhood is not about killing one’s children. We see this argued for by Daughter when she is upset about her culled siblings. If termination wasn’t bad, why all the outrage and fear from Daughter? Remember, Daughter is human: she is the protagonist who represents us in the film, as fellow humans who are pro-life/dignity/children/parenthood. Mother is the cold, mechanical, utilitarian, false-motherhood antagonist who is pro-choice/abortion. The choice is easy: be like Daughter!
  7. If that’s not enough signs of the film’s pro-life message, consider how the myriad fetuses are addressed: they’re called brothers and sisters. Including the unborn embryos! Their not called “clumps of cells”, or “potential people”, or merely “products of conception”. They are already family members.i_am_mother_still
  8. Additionally, quite a few Catholic symbols appeared both prominently and subtly in I Am Mother. Obviously, the rosary (as our Blessed Mother’s prayer), and the Marian icons (in the shipping container where the woman lived), but also that Daughter becomes the mother-figure for her newborn brother. Daughter, in a sense, is the virgin mother of the baby boy. For any astute Catholic, that’s an obvious reference to the only real-life Virgin Mother. Sadly, where the film is going with all this religious motherhood imagery is still lost on me, so if you have any insights, I’d be glad to hear it.
  9. On a related note, there’s also the issue of manufacturing children and growing them in gestation machines (as opposed to to conceiving children and carrying them in their mothers’ wombs). I’ve been mulling on writing something about this topic for a while, so this is a sign for me to get it out. But before it gets written, please see #3-4 above for arguments closely relevant, and also my philosophy thesis discussing the humanity and absurd predicament of frozen embryonic children.

So there we have it. Signs strongly suggesting that Netflix is flip-floppy about its abortion advocacy. Sure, boycott a pro-life state, but don’t boycott a pro-life movie streaming from your own collection? Come on. Just come out and say it: Netflix is secretly anti-abortion (or at least conflicted).

 

The Worthy War for the Planet of the Apes

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war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-launch-quad-finalTrilogies have a history of falling short in the last movie; even the Dark Knight trilogy’s third film didn’t measure up to its predecessors. But, it is safe to say that War for the Planet of the Apes is the crown of the rebooted franchise. Going into the trilogy with Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the films were decent and well done, but not compelling to me. But War is very worthy. Here’s why:

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—SPOILER ALERT—

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  1. Hands down, my favorite character in the trilogy is Nova. She is the young girl whom the apes adopt after orphaning her. Her name itself is full of meaning: not only does it allude to the Nova of the 1968 Planet of the Apes film, but it alludes to the Nova Eva, the “New Eve”, which is a title for the Blessed Virgin Mary as the New Eve whereas Christ is the New Adam. I suppose the name for the girl hints at her role as the new humanity, though with poignant irony (watch this video)…
  2. The girl carries the Simian Flu virus which has advanced ape brain and speech development while killing human hosts. In War, the very contagious virus has evolved to also debilitate speech and higher cognition in surviving human populations. This means the girl has become mute, and her beautiful rational mind has regressed to a primitive and lowly state. In other words, the Nova Eva is less human, the New Eve is a degenerated girl, the new humanity has become a sub-rational animal. This is even more tragic when Maurice (the ape who first and most advocates for her care) says to the girl when she asks if she is one of the apes: “You are Nova”… you are New. But we know that her newness actually means a regression of her full humanity (she is so degenerated that she even neglects her dead human father, not mourning or responding to her loss).
  3. Nova’s muteness struck me very deeply, since she wasn’t born mute but was rendered mute by the virus, since she became deprived of her speech and reason. Watching her try to speak, hearing her pathetic squeaks, and her dead voice unable to sound: this helped me see how precious is our gift of speech. As an English major with a small background in linguistics and one who loves to teach the Faith, how often have I taken my speech and thinking for granted. How many times have I misused and abused these gifts, speaking lies, evil, hurt, and hatred when I could have spoken truth, goodness, aid, and love? How often have I wasted my intellect on the superficial, the mediocre, and the stupid when I could have focused on the profound, the transcendent, and the wisdom of God?Nova
  4. But that’s where Nova is unique among all the trilogy: she is the only significant “she” in the entire series. No other female characters have carried the story, and her character’s feminine genius shines where no male character could. Though compromised in her thought and speech, her heart and soul survives without the baggage of a fallen mind (a sinful mind). This allows her to have incredible courage driven by her love for her friends, especially for Caesar who we can see she is wary of because of his initial coldness toward adopting her. Her courage, her care, and her nurturing help Caesar survive, and even help bring down the Colonel who threatens ape and infected human alike.
  5. In the Colonel and Caesar, we see a number of Biblical allusions: from the Colonel saying he was willing to sacrifice his only son to save humanity, and his crucifixion of apes, and the crosses he wears and gestures, to Caesar playing a Moses role for the apes. However, the most prominent Biblical gestures involves the Colonel’s mad attempt to wipe out the virus and Caesar’s sinfulness:
  6. The Colonel, in trying to kill and cull all the infected humans, reminds us of the Great Flood as an attempt to show us that even if all evil people were drowned, our fallen nature would persist because we are all fallen. The only way to drown evil is for Christ to drown it within ourselves, to drown it in His precious blood and water, drowning it with true and sacrificial love. And this must be done for as long as we live. Killing and culling the innocent will never save anyone, because the murderers always lose themselves in the killing and culling. We see this play out for the Colonel who ultimately contracts the virus himself.f6e3d832330642c6b9828da378b2a729_7e9007f462214af490bb432418b8b602_header
  7. And we see this in Caesar when he realizes that the ghost of Koba (the ape who turned on Caesar and plunged the ape and human worlds into relentless war) is in his own mind, and that he is like Koba, not above unforgiveness and evil. Because Caesar seeks vengeance against the Colonel, he exposes himself to further attack. becomes wounded, and ultimately is unable to enter the Promised Land with his tribe after a long desert journey (an Exodus) and the drowning of the enemy’s soldiers in a scene that mirrors the Red Sea. This echoes Moses’ prohibition from entering Canaan, as a penalty for his disobedience and arrogance.
  8. The film closes with us seeing that neither the human nor the ape world is perfect. Both are fallen creatures in a fallen world, but in the character of Nova, we see that we need not stay fallen. We can become new in the New Eve and the New Adam, and enter the New Promised Land: the New Heaven and New Earth.
  9. For another review with a Catholic mindset, please see Dcn. Greydanus’ take.
  10.  And don’t forget this excellent insight showing the Biblical side of the film. e86bb895d339a574b84cf0c77904f8173f9c79c9

The Better Beauty and the Beast

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large_tnml0g604pdrjwgj5fsusykfo9After months of fasting from watching the latest Disney live-action remake, I finally got to look over Emma Watson’s most anticipated film. And actually, after all the negative views I’ve read on it, I still walked away with some surprises. This version of the 1991 classic is slower paced, and not as compelling (some scenes actually bored me enough for me to pull out my phone and check the news, waiting for the lame parts to pass). It’s lacking musical beauty, the CGI was sub-par, and the story is too top heavy, trying desperately to out-do its origin by adding tacky changes. From the start, this remake was in trouble since it was trying to perfect an already perfect original, and you just can’t fix what ain’t broke. Instead of trying desperately to improve, they should have desperately tried to honor the original. But despite these failures, here are some things I appreciated more than I thought I would, and things I think you never noticed:

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—SPOILER ALERT—

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  1. Right from the get go, I noticed the fly-by camera in the opening Disney Castle logo sequence. I wondered and replayed it, and took a screenshot. Here’s what I saw:StMikeDisneyThat’s right! Atop the Disney Castle logo in this film (it’s usually a flag in other films) is a gold statue of St. Michael defeating Satan. And then at the end of the film, when the curse is broken and the Beast’s castle transformed, we see yet another gold statue of St. Michael, transformed from a gargoyle into the Archangel slaying the evil one. This leads me to wonder why Disney and the director (Bill Condon) okayed these clearly traditional Christian images, especially in a film that was supposedly designed in some scenes to push immoral same-sex relationships. Could it be that despite the attempts at evil, St. Michael was snuck in to show that Mickey and company belongs to St. Michael and company?6f17a9903a9e5487675b308eec8e8f28-hamburg-germany-munich
  2. Continuing the peculiar positive portrayal of the Church is the reverend/priest in the movie, who Belle meets with regularly to borrow his books. Granted that not many were literate in that time, it’s still strange to change Belle’s connection to literature from being with a bookstore (in the 1991 version) to a Catholic priest in the remake. And how do we know it’s a Catholic priest? Because there’s a giant crucifix statue, and Protestants and Orthodox don’t use crucifixes or statues. Also, the setting is France: a traditional stronghold of Catholicism (think St. Joan of Arc).
  3. Beast also has an almost throw-away line rebutting Lumiere’s claim of Belle being “the one” for Beast. Beast says: “there’s no such thing as the one.” This immediately reminded me of the correct understanding of love and marriage without the false fantasy of fate that negates freedom, without the this-was-meant-to-be lies. Blogger and author Matt Walsh explains this hilariously and clearly in this article: My Marriage Wasn’t Meant To Be. Here’s an excerpt (but seriously read it all):

    We think that our task is to find this preordained partner and marry them because, after all, they’re “The One.” They were designed for us, for us and only us. It’s written in the stars, prescribed in the cosmos, commanded by God or Mother Earth. There are six or seven billion people in the world, but only one of them is the right one, we think, and we’ll stay single until we happen to stumble into them one day.

    And when that day happens, when The One — our soul mate, our match, our spirit-twin — comes barreling into our lives to whisk us off our feet and take us on canoe rides and deliver impassioned romantic monologues on a beach in the rain or in a bus station or whatever, then we’ll finally be happy. Happy until the end of time. We can get married and have a perfect union; a Facebook Photo Marriage, where every day is like an Instragam of you and your spouse wearing comfortable socks and sitting next to the fireplace drinking Starbucks lattes.

    Yeah. About that. It’s bull crap, sorry. Not just silly, frivolous bull crap, but bull crap that will destroy you and eat your marriage alive from the inside. It’s a lie. A vicious, cynical lie that leads only to disappointment and confusion. The Marriage of Destiny is a facade, but the good news is that Real Marriage is something so much more loving, joyful, and true.

    We’ve got it all backwards, you see. I didn’t marry my wife because she’s The One, she’s The One because I married her. Until we were married, she was one, I was one, and we were both one of many. I didn’t marry The One, I married this one, and the two of us became one. I didn’t marry her because I was “meant to be with her,” I married her because that was my choice, and it was her choice, and the Sacrament of marriage is that choice. I married her because I love her — I chose to love her — and I chose to live the rest of my life in service to her. We were not following a script, we chose to write our own, and it’s a story that contains more love and happiness than any romantic fable ever conjured up by Hollywood.

    Indeed, marriage is a decision, not the inevitable result of unseen forces outside of our control. When we got married, the pastor asked us if we had “come here freely.” If I had said, “well, not really, you see destiny drew us together,” that would have brought the evening to an abrupt and unpleasant end. Marriage has to be a free choice or it is not a marriage. That’s a beautiful thing, really.

    God gave us Free Will. It is His greatest gift to us because without it, nothing is possible. Love is not possible without Will. If we cannot choose to love, then we cannot love. God did not program us like robots to be compatible with only one other machine. He created us as individuals, endowed with the incredible, unprecedented power to choose. And with that choice, we are to go out and find a partner, and make that partner our soul mate.

  4. And now the question of freedom and love: Beast finally learns this when he frees Belle from being his prisoner, even though she has become a willing prisoner. Being yet not fully free, her love is unable to be true, and his love is prevented from maturing also. But once Beast let’s Belle leave, once he allows himself to lose and become incredibly vulnerable to Belle’s rejection and abandonment, only then does Belle’s return mean anything. This insight isn’t unique to this remake, but is also in the original, and is a timeless truth about how love becomes true love. It reminds us that only a heart that can break is an honest heart, a real heart. And when Beast accepts his broken heart for love of Belle and her freedom and dignity, then does love truly bless and bloom, not wilt as the cursed rose.beauty_and_the_beast_emma_watson_rose
  5. That’s all I have to say about the remake. For more about the 1991 original masterpiece and all the bursting Christian and biblical symbols in it, please see Beauty and the Beast and the Bible. Finally, it should be obvious that I believe the better Beauty and the Beast is certainly not this remake. Sorry fans. Everything that was good in this version was already in the original.
  6. For another, more thoughtful review, please see here.

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Tridentine Triduum

Posted by HolySmack on

This past Holy Week was a first for me. I not only survived the taxing liturgies of the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday’s Paschal Vigil), but I found myself thriving in the Tridentine Triduum.

Not only did the usual Tridentine expressions help me, but I found the differences between the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms (EF) of the Holy Week liturgies subtle yet rejuvenating to my soul and devotion. Here are a few points:

—–1) The priest truly disappears. The ad orientem posture of his prayer, the demands the rubrics places on him, the centricity of Christ, really shows how the priest is another instrument of Jesus. He wears what the Church commands him to wear; moves as the Church commands him to move; chants, speaks and whispers as the Church commands; does everything as the Church commands: all through which Christ Himself commands! The human priest merely becomes part of the whole thing: chalice, corporal, candles, altar, priest, patens, bells, thurible, servers, etc. Just another instrument among the many. And the more he disappears, the more He, who is Lord, appears. What made me see this clearer was the several times the priest had to vest in different vestments, outfitted for the specific task at hand, with no opinion of his relevant, necessary or appropriate. He was a slave to the liturgy, a slave to Christ and His Church.img_0531

—–2) Tenebrae took three hours. Holy Thursday’s Mass of the Last Supper started at 7:00pm. Two hours later, Tenebrae began and lasted until midnight. I was in liturgy for five straight hours. This was the single longest liturgy of the Triduum! But it’s length was vital, because it helped me feel the exhaustion that Peter, James and John felt while they waited for Jesus in Gethsemane, while they struggled to stay with Him and keep prayer. And those who chanted never stopped until midnight! Here we were then, doing what the apostles had failed to do: keeping watch with Christ in His agony. We were atoning for all the times we and others had failed to stay with Jesus.

Yet, going into Tenebrae, I had no idea it would last that long (not sure how long they last elsewhere). But I found myself just thinking, “Why not? Why not go the distance? Why not spend this time as I would with my other friends, talking late into the night, into the tenebrae (darkness)?”

So my advice: if you get the chance next Holy Week to attend Tenebrae, do it. But get ready for some spiritual struggle. Bring a devotional book with you (I suggest any of Fulton Sheen’s), your prayer journal, and get ready to reap and weep.tenebrae-hearse

—–3) Finally, the Paschal Vigil on Holy Saturday: two hours of which was in pure candlelight. Usually, in Ordinary Form Masses on this night, candles get blown out and lights turned on way too soon. Ever since I was a kid, I always thought the darkness should linger longer. Truly, I felt myself deprived that I did not yet feel deprived of full lighting. It seemed the candles were all for show, and not for something more.

Yet at this Extraordinary Form Mass, the darkness endured. So much so that I started worrying my candle would not last the Mass! As the wax waned, and the flame flirted with my fingers, I started noticing how dark the church was. Others had already lost their candles to the shadows, and mine was next. The desperation started to set in: should I find another candle? Should I save mine? Should I use my cell phone’s flashlight? And as I thought, I realized I was experiencing the darkness of being without the Light of the world. I tried to rely on myself, but this light was only going to go out anyway. I needed Christ to be my light. I needed Him to come back from the dead. I was awaiting His Resurrection.

And when the lights of the grand church came on amidst bells, organ and choir, I welcomed it in my deprivation. The darkness encroaching on my eyes taught me to receive His Light into my soul, because I had been in the dark for so long….easter2bvigil2b20152b042

—–So, if anything here has sparked your curiosity, please consider trying a Tridentine Triduum next time around, and you may find yourself not merely surviving, but thriving.

*Note, none of the photos shared here are mine but belong to their respective owners.

Reviewing The Revenant

Posted by HolySmack on

During the little blizzard today in Detroit, I got the chance to see “The Revenant“. Though the movie is set in the winter of the American Midwest, it was a film on fire. Here are three major points in the movie worth a Holy Smack about:RevenantPoster.jpg

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—SPOILER ALERT—
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—–1) The misuse of Christianity: we see Tom Hardy’s character (Fitzgerald) spouting the Lord’s name and calling on God for all the wrong reasons. Most of us do this when we curse God, or use His holy name as a curse, or worse! This is extremely insulting to God, Whose name is power, love, grace, life, truth, beauty, goodness, almighty. To use His name for pathetic things, for things against His will and identity, is offensive. We also see an example of this wickedness when people use God and Christianity as an excuse to do evil: American slavery’s justification that Africans are descendants of Cain (their “mark” is the color of their skin).

In the movie, we also see misuse with the “Our Father” prayer (aka: the Lord’s Prayer) when the captain forces someone to say it under distress and threat of death. Prayer is not a tool for threatening or torturing someone. Prayer is a gift we get to have to talk with God. Its use any other way is a depravity.

—–2) But then the movie shows the correct use of God’s name and Christianity, in two ways. First we see Leonardo DiCaprio’s character (Hugh Glass) approach a Catholic church in his dream. The church is in ruins, its bell is hanging on edge but still tolling away, and its icons are aged but dazzling: it’s the most colorful thing we see all film long. We see the saints, and then we see the crucifix: Jesus on the cross. We realize that it is Glass’ son, Hawk, who is in the church waiting for his father. He holds a fire to the crucifix, letting us see the Lord’s feet.Revenant2.JPG
As Glass enters the church, he finds his only son waiting for him. We also know that his only son had died for him already, earlier in the film. The connection becomes apparent: God lost His only Son, and Glass lost his only son. Glass suffers here with God the Father. At this point, we see a connection with what Glass told his son before: “You are my son”, as in “You are my beloved Son” when God speaks at Jesus’ Baptism (Matthew 3:17). The film is truly a film about a father losing his only son, and learning to suffer with God.

Another insight about this church scene: no matter how broken down the Church appears, the Church remains a place where our loved ones can be found. In the Church Triumphant (Heaven) and Church Suffering (Purgatory, enroute to Heaven), we find reunion with those beloveds we lost. They await us! They are in the Father’s home and they are waiting; we only have to go to the Church to find them. The Church is the family of God, the body of the Lord. So next time you are at Holy Mass, realize that all Heaven is there with you. All the angels, all the saints, Almighty God is there with you, for you.Revenant1.jpg

—–3) Finally, the film shows us Glass surrendering justice and revenge to God’s control. Whenever anyone is so close to a climax, so close to completing (achieving) an intense act, it takes incredible self-mastery and will power to stop. In this case, Glass stops just short of killing Fitzgerald. He remembers that his friend had also lost his family and home to murderers, and his friend said “Revenge is in the hands of the creator.” His friend’s act of letting God be God comes back to set an example for Glass, who says here, “Revenge is in the hands of God.”

Surrendering his quest for vengeance to God is the same as surrendering our quest for justice to God. Actually, it’s the same as surrendering anything to God. When we let God have control, we are letting the person who knows everything, who knows every perspective and nuance and secret, make the call. We don’t know it all to make a good call, but He does.

We also must realize that God loves us more than we love ourselves. Hawk’s murder hurts Glass. But it offends God even more, in fact, infinitely more because God is infinite! And so His love is infinite! So murdering Hawk offends Glass, but offends God forever (unless it is atoned for and repented of). Even more: since God loves us so much and went as far as dying for us, anyone’s murder means that the murderer is spitting in God’s love, saying effectively that He died for nothing. Example: I love my wife, I love her enough to die for her. Someone comes along and says I shouldn’t die for her because she’s not worth it, that in fact she is so worthless that she should be killed. I would be very insulted, because I love her enough to die for her!

But God already did die for us. And everytime we murder, cheat, betray, hate others, we insult God because He loved enough to die for them. We are telling God that He died for worthless people.

And so, Glass’ surrendering of vengeance to God’s providence shows us we should do the same. And by doing so, Fitzgerald’s last taunt falls limp: he says that getting revenge will not bring back Glass’ son. Hawk is dead regardless. And that’s true…

But God can resurrect us all.

And Glass’ act of virtue (surrendering revenge to God) guarantees he and his son will rise and be together again.

—–So as you can see, you should see “The Revenant”.

—–Bonus) Anyone else get the feeling that Glass’ wife was a type of Mary? The way she whispered to him in his memories was like prayers, the way she appeared was like apparitions, guiding him and encouraging him.

—–Bonus 2) Being that the film is set in 1800s America, the church shown most likely had the Traditional Latin Mass (I just had to say it).

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